Biography

Byrd was born in Anderson, South Carolina. He attended Clemson University between 1997 and 2000. During his Clemson career, Byrd was the first four-time First Team All-ACC player in Clemson history, was named a First Team All-America in 1999, and represented the United States on the Walker Cup team in 1999.

Byrd had an average season in 2008 with two top-10s and a little over $1,000,000 in earnings. His best finish in 2009 was at the Memorial Tournament, where he was joint second round leader with Jim Furyk. Byrd would go on to finish T3.

On July 7, 2009, Byrd 's father, James, died aged 65 after a long struggle with a cancerous tumor in his brain. The death of his father caused Byrd to withdraw from the John Deere Classic, an event he had won previously in 2007.